Space Perception in Chronic Schizophrenia and Brain-Damage
| Autor: | Paul G. Daston |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1964 |
| Předmět: |
medicine.medical_specialty
Perseveration Brain Poison control Experimental and Cognitive Psychology Brain damage medicine.disease Sensory Systems Rorschach test Schizophrenia Brain Injuries Space Perception Injury prevention Schizophrenic Psychology medicine Humans Brain Damage Chronic Psychological testing medicine.symptom Psychiatry Psychology Clinical psychology |
| Zdroj: | Perceptual and Motor Skills. 18:183-190 |
| ISSN: | 1558-688X 0031-5125 |
| Popis: | St~mnzary.-The hypothesis that chronic schizophrenia may be a form of organic brain damage was tested, using a reliable spacial perceptual test with m70 groups: chronic schizophrenics and organic brain-damaged Ss. Contrary to expectation and contrary to the findings of ochers, chronic schizophrenics performed significantly more poorly. Brain-damaged Ss were all recent admissions to a general medical hospital, whereas the schizophcenics averaged more than 13 yr. institutionalization. It was suggesrecl this environmental factor was responsible for the obtained differences. Among explanations of schizophrenia, the theory of an organic brain factor as ca~lsative has had a long history (cf. 9, 11). It is difficult to talk about a lesion in cases d~ngnosed as schizophrenic where remission is rapid; but when rhe long-term schizophrenic1 is being discussed, it becomes reasonable. Treatment has been ineffective, and behaviors of chronic schizophrenics are similar to those of individuals with known brain damage. Comparisons using psychological test results have typically shown chronic schizophrenics to respond like patients with organic brain syndromes. Brackbill (4) cites a smdy by himself and Fine, using Piotrowski's checklist of Rorschach signs of organic brain involvement, in which process schizophrenics could not be distinguished from known organics. Becker (2) lists Piotrowski's organic perseveration sign as one which differentiates process from reactive schizophrenics. McDonough ( 10 ) assumed process schizophrenia reflects brain pathology and tested the proposition that process schizophrenics would respond si~nilarly to brain-damaged individuals on tests of critical flicker frequency and in perception of Archimedes Spiral aftereffects. He found differences berween the groups and concluded there was no demonstrable cortical defect in chronic schizophrenia. However, McDonough's brain-damaged group included an unspecified number of persons with Parkinson's syndrome. Since his group was not strictly comparable to brain-damaged populations used by other investigators, ic is difficult to evaluate McDonough's results. Recendy, Tien (14) reported his findings with a new percepmal rechnique. Two of his groups, organic brain disease and paranoid schizophrenics, concern us. All came from a state mental instin~tion and were presumably chronic cases. He found no statistically significant differences between rhese groups. 'For purposes of this paper, "long-term" schizophrenic, "process" schizophrenic, and "chronic" schizophrenic are used interchangeably. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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